Chile's August copper output grows 7.8%

Copper output in Chile, the world's largest copper producer, surged 7.8% year-on-year in August to 462,643 metric tons, the government statistics agency said Friday.

The National Statistics Institute, or INE, attributed the gain to a low basis of comparison as workers at the BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP, BHP.AU)-controlled Escondida copper mine went on strike in July 2011, which curbed output in July and August last year.

For the first eight months of the year, Chile produced 3,521,254 tons of copper, an increase of 4% when compared with January-August 2011.

Last year, Chile produced 5.25 million tons of the industrial metal, which represented a decrease of 3.2% from what it mined in 2010.

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